Books by John Ruskin
“It’s a shorter book – you could argue it’s a longer novella – but it was a breakthrough for modern fantasy. It’s the traditional fairytale setup of two evil brothers and a young, good brother. They live in a very fertile valley, and the two older brothers insult a traveller who turns out to be one of the four winds. Dire consequences ensue. For Ruskin as an early environmentalist, the natural environment is more valuable than gold in this story. At the beginning, the character doesn’t have the wisdom to see how important nature is – he wants gold rather than a healthy landscape – and the journey is a discovery that actually the most valuable thing is a beautiful, green, healthy, fertile land that we can engage with – both through healthy farming as well as leaving some land natural. And for the man who wrote ‘The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century,’ this is really key. Winds and water are so important to the story, and Ruskin is very concerned about how even the winds are being impacted by the industrial pollution.” Read more...
The Best Victorian Fantasy Novels
Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson, Literary Scholar
“A lot of those ideas about the Gothic, Ruskin cuts in Venice. He spends a lot of time drawing and measuring. He’s very careful, trying to tabulate the world. He has a lot of ideas about when arches became Byzantine, and when they became Romanesque. He is quite often quite wrong. But the idea is a powerful one, that Venice, as a Gothic city, is an act for good. His ideas then have a tremendous life in diaspora, particularly around Britain. You get buildings like Templeton Carpet Factory in Glasgow, the Meadows building at Christ Church, or St. Pancras station in London. There are a number of buildings that use the language of Venice in English architecture. It is a political thing, it is saying, ‘This is how you do good.’” Read more...
Matthew Rice, Artists & Art Critic
On Art and Life
by John Ruskin
He had the idea that mass-produced items were un-Christian and diminished the soul of man.
Interviews where books by John Ruskin were recommended
The best books on Negotiating the Digital Age, recommended by Nick Harkaway
The challenges – and opportunities – of our times have never been greater. Everything from our models of political participation to the very architecture of our brains is at stake, says the novelist and technology blogger Nick Harkaway.
The best books on Venice, recommended by Matthew Rice
Venice once ruled an empire that stretched across the eastern Mediterranean, but by the early modern period was already evolving into a city whose greatest claim to fame was as a tourist destination. Here Matthew Rice, author and illustrator of Venice: A Sketchbook Guide, recommends books to read about Venice and its history and architecture, as well as a couple of crime thrillers to read while you’re there.
The Best Victorian Fantasy Novels, recommended by Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson
Modern fantasy emerged out of the work of a group of Victorian writers, many of whom were medieval scholars and social justice activists. These three threads are intimately connected, explains literary scholar Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson. Here, she introduces us to the Victorian fantasy novels that shaped the work of 20th-century legends C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, and the beliefs that infuse those stories.
